When Everything is Right, What Goes Wrong?
by Ale Curtis-Carter
Summary: She has a good life and she knows it. Nothing brings her down because she always has her loving family to turn to. But what if she makes a mistake that even her family can't shield her from? One that her parents thought she had already been spared from.
1. The Beginning

He stood in an alley watching, waiting. He stared at her, her long black hair billowing about her tall frame. She kept her eyes locked on the ground as she walked quickly, purposefully. She reminded him of his mother, the way they both walked, almost fearfully. He didn't know why the girl walked like that he knew his mother's reason; his father. His father was an abusive man, constantly putting down all those around him, especially his son and wife. He made it clear to them everyday how worthless they truly were in his eyes. It turned the boy's mother into a woman who openly felt inferior, but her son took a different route. Like many others before him, probably like his dad, the boy became a bully. He took it upon himself to point out others' inferiorities just to mask his own. He continued to watch her. She was his favorite victim. As his father's face appeared in his mind, the girl drew closer. She again would be the one the boy let out all his anger towards his father on. He put out the cigarette that had been dangling from his mouth and stepped out of the alley. She stopped in her tracks, letting out a sigh. She wasn't scared, she wasn't worried, she wasn't upset, though she knew what was coming. She was simply tired. Exhausted of the torment he constantly tried to cause her.

"Hello!" He exclaimed with a false happiness lacing his voice. "How are you on this _fine_ day?" When she attempted to walk past him, he grew angry. His outstretched arm prevented her from continuing on her path and was forced to stay in place.

"Go away, Travis." She said simply; and as if it had been rehearsed, he let out a chuckle. She'd expected it.

"That's why no one likes you, you know." He growled.

"I know." She answered. It was easier to just agree with him whether what he said was true or not.

"Maybe if you weren't so pathetic, you'd have a boyfriend."

"I don't care, Travis." She said coolly. "Unlike you, I don't need someone to raise my self-esteem for me." Her voice grew colder. "And I don't need to try to make others feel bad to make myself feel good. I'm better than that." She watched as his face contorted to one of fury.

"Listen here, you little bitch." His face was dangerously close to hers and she could smell cigarettes in his breath. "You're nothing. You're completely unworthy!" And he stormed off, just like that. She sighed and continued her walk home. What Travis said has never gotten to her, she never cared. Today was different though. She didn't care about what he'd said, but why did he always want to her pain? Even though he was unsuccessful in his attempts, he still always tried. What had she done to him? She has never said a word to him the first time he'd tried.

It had been the first day of school after winter break, the first day of her second semester of the eighth grade. She'd been sitting in her homeroom talking to some friends a new boy walked in.

"Travis McMullen." He said gruffly to the teacher, handing her his transfer into the class. Mrs. Rochet nodded and told him to go sit in the book of the room, in the available desk, right next to where the girl and her friends had been sitting.

"I can't believe your dad did that!" Her friend, Rhonda, was saying. This had caught Travis's attention.

"He's been working really late for a while." She shrugged. The girl's other friend was awed.

"So he just took you out of school for a day?!" Nikki asked. "My dad would never do that!" The girl nodded, smiling.

"We've missed hanging out." She told her friends. "I love my dad." Travis sat there, angry. That girl's father loved her and his didn't. What did she have in her to make her father love her? And what did he have that his father didn't love him? Before he had time to comprehend his own thoughts, Travis was on his feet.

"Shut up, you annoying bitch! No one wants to hear your fuckin' voice!" He had stormed out of the room.

A few tears escaped the girl's eyes as she continued to walk home. What had she done to cause such hatred in him? She sat down on a corner and took out "The Book." On her tenth birthday, her father had given her a notebook engraved with her name.

"For all your thoughts and memories." He had told her. Every year since then, aside from another birthday present, he'd give her a new book. Her form of emotional release lied in that book. She had found that writing lyrics always helped her to feel better. Thus, The Book was full of songs. It took her but a moment of thinking before she scribbled down the first verse.

"Won't let them get me,

Won't let them bring me down.

I know I'm lucky,

I have everything I want,

I have everything I need."

She looked at it and frowned. She didn't like it at all. She'd think of something as she made her way home. Though she wasn't pleased with what she'd written, she was happy with the idea behind it. She was indeed lucky and very aware of it. Every day she watched her parents take a medication to keep them alive. But she didn't need any medicine and she was so fortunate and grateful she didn't. For if she had been born sick, she wouldn't have lived to see her fourth birthday. Now here she was, at age sixteen, perfectly healthy. Yes, Annette Davis had been born without AIDS.

A/N: Chapter one. I thought it would be interesting to keep her anonymous until the end of the chapter. I've never used that technique before so I'm not sure how well it worked. Hoped it wasn't too bad. Constructive Criticism makes the writer's world go round. (Wow, could that have been any cornier?) So please review.

Thanks so much for reading,

Ale


	2. The Perfect Family

This is important background information you should all know—

Roger and Mimi:

RENT ends in 1990, right? Right.

March 1st, 1991: Roger and Mimi get married.

End of March, 1991: Mimi finds out she's pregnant.

December 30th, 1991: Annette is born.

That makes her 16 in 2007. .

Annette continued to think of how blessed her family was as she walked home. She remembered a conversation she had overheard her parents having when she was only five, the epitome of good fortune.

Roger had walked in on Mimi crying, scared that she and Roger would die too soon, leaving Annette an orphan.

"How are we going to support her after we die?!" Mimi had yelled.

"We're not gonna die anytime soon!" Roger's voice had a hint of happiness that Mimi lacked to notice.

"We have HIV, Roger! Do you know what HIV does to you? It turns into AIDS. You know what happens next?!" She asked rhetorically.

"It's not going to turn into AIDS!" He tried desperately to calm his wife.

"How can you say that?! How could you even pretend to know what's going to happen to us?!" Mimi had grown more frantic by the moment.

"HIV never turns into AIDS if you have money for the cocktail." Roger said calmly.

"Do we have money, Roger?! Do we?! We can barely afford the AZT as it is!"

"I was going to tell you tonight." Roger grinned. "My band's been signed. From now on, we'll have all the money we want."

And it was true. Roger's band had recorded three CDs since then, and money wasn't an issue anymore. Not only could he afford the cocktail for himself and his wife, he had paid for half of Collins's cocktail and since then, paid for half whenever he refilled. By the time Annette was one, Roger was able to move his family into a house instead of the loft, in a better neighborhood to raise a kid. But his friends, his family would never split. They had purposely chosen to move into the same neighborhood Maureen and Joanne—who were now married with an adopted six year old boy named Kenny—lived in. Mark and Collins, left roommates, had bought an apartment in the same neighborhood right after Roger and Mimi bought their house. Mark was now married as well. Soon after he'd finished his film, Mark started working at Buzzline again. He grew fond of the place he once considered a sell-out. He'd fallen in love with Dana, a fellow filmmaker and they'd gotten married. They now had three kids. Lucas was the oldest. He was 15, and a spitting image of his father. He was in his freshman year of high school. Tommy was a rambunctious eight-year-old. He had features that clearly made him the son of both his parents. And then came Lacey, an adorable four-year-old, looking much like her mother. Collins was left alone in the apartment Mark had moved out of. It didn't bother him at all that he was the only bachelor of the group. "Angel will always have my heart." He would laugh.

Due to the growing up of Roger's daughter, as well as the kids of some of his band mates, they decided to stop going on tour. They still played together at least once a week and often played local gigs. They still wrote songs and would record another CD when they were ready to. But since the band wasn't a full time job anymore, Roger had gotten other jobs. First, he was the music teacher at a local high school, and after school he worked at an after-school program at The Music of Art or more commonly known as MA, a nearby music school. Friends would often ask Roger why he worked two jobs. He didn't need the money. His response was always the same one.

"Music's my life. (Right after my wife and daughter, of course.) I have to help others have music in their lives as well." So he taught.

When Annette walked into her house, she was surprised to hear the sound of a guitar. She made her way into the living room instead of to her room.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" She asked. He usually went straight from one job to the other.

"There's no school at MA today." He smiled up at his daughter. "Someone called in a bomb threat earlier today."

"Crap, that sucks." Annette sympathized.

"It's been cleared for hours, but they decided to keep it closed for the day anyway, so—" He suddenly stopped talking, as he looked at his daughter closely.

"What?" Annette asked confused.

"What's wrong?" Roger asked.

"What?" Annette repeated. "Nothing." Roger and Annette were as close as any father-daughter relationship could get. They couldn't have had a better relationship if they wanted it. She told him just about everything, never feeling the need to hide anything from her father, as many teenagers often did.

"Nothing's wrong, Dad." She muttered. What was the point of telling him about Travis? He already knew about it and she didn't want him all worried that it had finally gotten to her.

"You're lying." Roger put his guitar on the coffee table as he stood.

"Don't worry about it, Dad. It's nothing." But Roger would not be persuaded.

"It's not nothing! Something's wrong, I can see it in your eyes!" So she told him. She told him that she just didn't understand why he wanted to hurt her.

"Even though I couldn't care less about what he says," she told him. "It gets to me that he seems to want so badly. To cause pain."

"I am going to kick that kid's ass!" Roger growled. "No one messed with my baby girl!"

"Your baby girl is 16, Dad." Annette rolled her eyes, but grinning all the same.

"You'll always be my baby." He said almost sternly.

"What kid hasn't heard that one?" She laughed.

"Well it's different with me."

"Yeah? Why's that?" Her father never ceased to amuse her.

"Because. Good answer?"

"The best." They laughed as he hugged his little girl. He was so happy he had a good relationship with her; and so was she.

"What's this?" A voice called from the living room doorway. Both heads turned to face Mimi Marquez-Davis. "A love fest without me?"

"Of course not, baby." Roger smiled walking over to her. They shared a kiss before Mimi went over to her daughter. She kissed her forehead.

"Hey, honey." She sighed sitting next to her.

"Hard day at work?" Roger asked his wife.

"Brutal. The stupid choreographer changed the choreography about twenty times. Of course in between all his changes we had to do the new-soon-to-be-changed-again choreography about six million times."

A few months before Mimi had found it she was pregnant, she had a visitor waiting for her in her dressing room at the Cat Scratch Club. He'd introduced himself as John Crowney.

"I understand you're married." He said to Mimi.

"Uh…yeah. How'd you know?" He told her he'd been sitting watching her dance and he'd made a comment about her talent. The man next to him had said

"Watch it, that's my wife!" Roger had started going to the Cat Scratch every night to make sure no one tried to move in on his girl.

"Yeah, that's Roger." Mimi smiled. He was cute when he was jealous.

"Do you plan to have kids someday?" Crowney had asked her and she'd found it weird.

"Umm…I just found out I'm pregnant a few days ago." He was starting to creep her out. "Why are you asking?"

"This is now place for a future mother to work." He said simply.

"Look—" She began but was cut off.

"I'm the president of Dancers on Stage."

"Never heard of it." Said Mimi slowly.

"Of course not. It hasn't been established yet. It's a soon-to-be dance company. We're building a theatre a few blocks from here. It'll be the home of DOS." Mimi looked at him confused. He continued. "When the theatre is built, I'd like to recruit you to the company. I'm willing to hand you over a position right now if you'll agree to join us as soon as we're set up." Mimi had been sure she was dreaming. She'd jumped up, yelping in joy and gave the man a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. Roger had watched the whole scene from the doorway, smiling. The company had been initiated a little over a year later. Annette had been sixth months old by then and Mimi was able to leave her daughter with her husband as she fulfilled her dreams.

"Aww, my poor baby." Roger smiled, sitting next to his wife. He gave her a passionate kiss. "Better?"

"Only a little." He went in for another. "Still hurts…" she pouted.

"My cue to leave." Annette muttered leaving her parents to make out on the couch. After sixteen years of being married, Roger and Mimi still acted as in love as they did when they first met.

A/N: I know this chapter is a little boring, but all the background information had to be given. I know this all seems so perfect for all the characters and so unrealistic, but just trust me. I AM aware of that. So thank you for reading, it means a lot to me! Thank you for reviewing, it means even more!


	3. The Family Gathering

Friday night meant dinner with the entire family. This week it was at Mark's.

"Ten minutes!" Roger called out to both his wife and daughter who were each in their rooms getting ready.

"Okay!" Annette yelled back as she finished tying her hair. She figured she had some time and took out her guitar, displaying her similarities to her father. She just kind of strummed as she was lost in thought. It was a knock on her door that snapped her back to reality,

"Annette! Let's go!" Her father called.

"Right." She muttered putting away her guitar and joining her father in the hallway to wait for Mimi.

"Mimi!" Roger whined. "Come on!" He knew if he walked into the room there'd be no chance of them being on time.

"Okay, okay!" Mimi said as she walked out, fastening an earring. "What's the rush anyway?"

"I made a bet with Maureen last week that we'd be there before her today!"

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Annette laughed and Mimi went back into the room.

"It might if your mother hurries up!" Roger said louder so that Mimi would hear. He turned back to his daughter. "I'm hoping Kenny slows them down."

"Kenny _will_ slow them down." Annette nodded. "And Joanne will hurry them back up."

"Mimi!" Roger said, exasperated.

"Okay!" Mimi stepped out. "Let's go." They began to descend the stairs when Mimi suddenly remembered,

"Oh, I forgot perfume!" Roger caught her around the waist.

"You smell wonderful, baby. _Please_, let's go!" Mimi grumbled but conceded and they went out to the car.

"Can I drive?" Annette asked her father hopefully. Though Annette was 16, she'd waited too long to get her permit when she was 15, and now still needed an adult companion to drive.

"No!" Mimi said at once. Mimi always got so nervous when her daughter drove.

"Let her drive." Roger said. Mimi glared at him.

"Look, Annette and I will take my car, you take yours and we'll have no problem."

"Fine." Mimi grumbled and went back into the house to get her keys.

"Let's go!" Roger grinned at his daughter and tossed her the keys. They took off and were five minutes into the car ride when Roger said,

"The limit's 35. You're on 45."

"I thought you wanted to beat Maureen."

"Don't get cute." Roger threatened, but there was laughter in his voice.

"Can't help it. I _am _cute. I'm a Davis."

"That you are." Roger grinned.

"Well, actually…I should go by Marquez 'cause there's nothing cute about Davis." She teased.

"Oh yeah? Go ask the Marquez side to drive." Roger answered.

"But uh…" Annette struggled for a save. "Thank G-d, I'm a Davis or I wouldn't be cool."

"Lame." Roger said, but smiling none the less. "35! Slow down!"

"Okay, okay."

As they only lived ten minutes away, it wasn't long until they were driving into the neighborhood. A pair of headlights blinked at them from the opposite entrance.

"What moron is blinking their lights?" Roger muttered.

"Dad…it's Maureen!"

"Step on it!" Roger ordered. "But don't tell your mother." Annette laughed and took the car up to 30 in a 15 zone. Maureen accelerated too.

"35!" Said Roger and his daughter obeyed.

"HAH!" Roger yelled out the window as a car turned ahead of Maureen, forcing her to stay at 25. Maureen was heard cursing and Joanne was heard yelling "Maureen! Six year old in the car!" Kenny, of course, found it all very amusing. Maureen stopped cursing and settled for honking the horn non stop. The car in front of Maureen suddenly turned and as Maureen pressed down on the accelerator, Annette pulled into the driveway. She parked the car and she and Roger jumped out laughing and hugged. Maureen pulled in behind them, grumbling.

"Hi, Aunt Maureen!" Annette grinned at her godmother.

"You, my dear," Maureen said looking down at Annette. "Are not getting what you wanted for your birthday." Annette's face fell. "You'll have to wait till Christmas." Annette smiled. "That'll teach you to mess with your godmother." She turned to Roger. "As for you, Davis, I'm going to kick your—" She was cut off by her son yelling out in glee upon seeing his "uncle" Roger. "Well, you get it." Maureen growled at her friend.

"I do." Roger nodded. "But first you're gonna give me the twenty bucks." Maureen grumbled as she slapped the bill into his outstretched hand.

"Why don't you bums stop arguing and come inside?" Collins's cheerful voice came from the doorway. Maureen punched Roger as she walked by him and Joanne gave him an apologetic look.

"Hi, Uncle Roger!" Kenny jumped into his arms. Roger, Kenny and Joanne walked into the house.

"Where are my godchildren?" Roger yelled as he walked into the house. "Hey, Dana!" He greeted his best friend's wife with a kiss on the cheek.

"Dunno where the kids are," Mark joined his wife, "but here's your best friend."

"Oh hi, Mark." Roger said dismissively, joking.

"And people wonder how we've stayed so close!" Mark said sarcastically. Roger chuckled giving his friend a hug.

"Now where are—" Roger began to ask again but was cut off by a chorus of "Uncle Roger!" They each gave him a hug and made their rounds to Maureen and Joanne.

"Speaking of godchildren," Mark said. "Where's mine?" Roger turned to see his daughter not standing next to him.

"She must be outside," Roger began.

"Talking on her phone." Mark concluded. He stepped outside and sure enough Annette was standing there, phone pressed to her ear.

"Annette." She looked over at her godfather.

"I'll talk to you later…Bye." Annette hung up her phone and grinned up at her "uncle."

"Hey, Uncle Mark." She said as they hugged. "I was just gonna talk till Mom showed up."

"Why didn't she come with you?" He asked. Then realized, "Oh, you wanted to drive?"

"Uh huh." Annette smiled. Unseen by them, Mimi's car was pulling into the driveway.

"He had you drive while he had that bet on with Maureen?" Mark asked.

"Yep. He ended up telling me to go 35 in here."

"The speed limit is 15!" Mimi said from behind them.

"Oops." Annette said.

"I'll kill him!" Mimi growled. "ROGER!" She stormed into the house. Annette and Mark shared an amused look before following.

"Hi, baby." Roger said to his wife, not realizing she was mad.

"35, Roger!" Roger stared at her confused, but picked up on her anger upon looking at her.

"Huh?" He asked dumbfounded.

"35!" She repeated. "In a 15 zone!"

"Oh." He said guiltily. Everyone was watching amused. "You see, Maureen—"

"Uh-uh." Maureen cut him off. "Don't drag me into it."

"Just wait till we get home." She growled and Roger groaned as his friends all said "oooo" as if they were in Junior High and had just been called into the principle's office. Mimi greeted everyone and followed Dana into the kitchen to leave a cake she brought. Maureen and Joanne went too, leaving Mark, Roger, Collins and the kids still standing in the foyer.

"You weren't supposed to tell her!" Roger groaned at his daughter as they made their way into the living room.

"I didn't! I was telling Uncle Mark! I didn't know she was there." Roger shook his head, taking a seat on the couch. Mark sat next to him, Lacey on his lap, and Collins in front of them in an armchair as the rest of the kids went upstairs. Tommy and Kenny ran off to Tommy's room to play video games and Annette joined Lucas in his room. Being barely a year apart, Annette and Lucas had always been incredibly close. They considered themselves both cousins and best friends.

"How's Morgan?" Annette asked referring to the girl Lucas had had a crush on all year.

"Still oblivious to my existence." He muttered.

"Talk to her!" Annette urged.

"I can't! You know I can't!" He said aggravated.

"Yes, you can!" She said, having the same conversation they often had. He only sighed, making it clear he didn't want to talk about it. He was saved as Mark's voice rang out the work "Dinner!"

"Come on." Lucas said and they descended the stairs.

Like Mark, Dana was Jewish. However, she was slightly more religious, so since they'd been married they had Shabbat dinner every Friday; but that was as far as their observing of the Sabbath went, because they still drove and used electricity and everything. There was a box on the counter near the table, filled with _kippot_, the little hat Jewish males wore. All the males in the room took a _kippah _and placed it on their heads before taking their places at the table. They remained standing as Mark held up the wine cup and said _Kiddush_, the prayer said over the wine. He took a sip and passed it around from oldest to youngest. Males over bar-mitzvah, which is the age of thirteen, first then females (which was often silently protested by the women.) Collins took it first, taking a sip and passing the cup to Roger who followed suit and handed it to Lucas. They all knew the order by heart and next was Joanne. She passed the _Kiddush_ Cup to her wife and after taking a sip, Maureen passed it to Mimi. Mimi did the same and gave the cup to her daughter. After Annette was Tommy, then Kenny and Lacey. The cup was returned to Mark who downed the rest of the wine, putting his hand on his _kippah _so it wouldn't fall as his head tilted back. Next came the blessing of the bread. The custom in most Jewish families is for one of the kids to say the prayer.

"Whose turn is it?" Mark asked.

"Lacey's." Tommy and Lucas said in unison. Lacey went over to stand by her father, holding two loaves of _Challah_ bread together.

"_Baruch atah Adoshem, Elokeinu melech ha-olam ha-motzi lechem min ha'aretz._" She said. The table answered "Amen" and Mark cut up the _Challah_ bread and gave a piece to everyone. Dana stood and went to the kitchen. Mimi, Maureen, Annette and Joanne got up to help her. Roger quickly followed his wife, coming up behind her and putting his arms around her waist.

"I'm still mad at you." Mimi said simply, moving out of his grip.

"Tough break, Dad." Annette patted his shoulder sympathetically, receiving a glare.

"Make yourself useful." Mimi said. He rushed to obey, taking a tray to the table. With so many people there, food wasn't sparse.

"Who do you guys think you are?" Dana stood in the doorway of the kitchen, hands on her hips. "You're no kings, get up and help." Mark chuckled and stood. He walked into the kitchen giving his wife a kiss as he passed her, Collins on his heels. A few minutes later, everyone was sitting and eating.

"Mimi." Roger said suddenly, looking at his wife sitting in front of him. He was answered with a glare. His face fell as Mimi secretly enjoyed watching him squirm.

About an hour later, the family was clearing the table. They were all full and sat down to talk when all was clean. Roger sat down next to Mimi, who stood and went over to sit with Dana, just to watch Roger pout. She inwardly laughed as Roger gave her a depressed look.

"Hey, Mark, show me that new documentary you've been working on." Roger said suddenly. Never passing a chance to show his work, he stood up and led Roger to the other room.

"Come on, Annette." Roger said. She noticed a hint of secrecy in her father's voice, so she stood and followed. Right as Mark was about to turn into a room, Roger grabbed his shoulders and steered him into the foyer.

"Huh?" Mark asked confused.

"I'll be back." Roger said, opening the door.

"Where are you—" But before Mark could finish his question, Roger and Annette were out the door.

"Where are we going, Dad?" Annette asked getting into the passenger's seat.

"Walgreen's." Roger answered, starting the car.

"Why?"

"Flowers." Roger said simply.

"What?" Annette was getting more perplexed by the moment.

"For your mom. She's still mad at me." Roger explained.

"Oh!" Annette grinned. "That's cute."

Soon after, they arrived at Walgreen's.

"What kind of flowers?" Annette asked, looking at Roger.

"The bouquet with all the different flowers and the purple stuff," Roger answered and Annette laughed at his description. "And sunflowers 'cause they're her favorite." Annette nodded and they made their way to where the flowers were. Roger picked up the two bouquets, paid for them and they left.

When they arrived back at the house, the kids were all watching TV in Lucas's room and the adults were still talking in the living room.

"Hold this." Roger said in the foyer, handing her the sunflowers. "Stay here." He took the other bouquet and marched into the living room. Everyone stopped talking and looked at him.

"Mimi, I'm sorry." He said handing her the flowers. Not even Mimi could suppress her smile. "Forgive me?" Roger said and gave a pout. Mimi nodded and stood up to kiss him, but before their lips touched, Roger put up a finger.

"Wait here." He walked back to Annette and took the sunflowers then returned to the living room, hiding the flowers behind his back.

"And this," He showed the flowers. "Is because I love you." He extended his arm towards her. Mimi's smile couldn't be wider as the group let out a collective "awwww."

"I love you too." Mimi whispered as she kissed him. They continued their kiss and Roger fell back onto the couch, Mimi on his lap. Annette smiled from the doorway, then went upstairs to join her cousins.

It was always at a late hour when the families finally dispersed. The Davis family was the only one left at one o'clock AM. Tommy and Lacey had already gone to sleep and Annette, Lucas, Mark, Dana, Mimi and Roger were all talking together. Finally at about one-thirty, Mimi heaved a great yawn.

"Roger, we'd better go." She said. "I'm all but falling asleep."

"All right, let's go." Mimi stood up and after saying bye to everyone, went to her car.

"Is she gone?" Roger asked a few seconds later. Annette looked out the window and nodded.

"Good. Here." He tossed her the car keys.

"Sweet!" Annette grinned.

"Bye, buddy." Roger said, giving Mark a hug. "Dana." A hug and a kiss. "Lucas." Another hug. Annette repeated the process, giving everyone hugs and the two went out to the car. As Annette drove, she let out a yawn, similar to her mother's.

"You sure you're okay to drive?" Roger asked his daughter.

"Duh!" Was the reply.

"Okay." About a minute later, Roger saw his daughter was indeed wide awake as yelled,

"Annette! 35!"

A/N: Thank you very much for the reviews. I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written in all my years of writing. I'm proud. Please let me know what you thought of it.


	4. Pickups and Groceries

Sunday afternoon, Roger and Annette were sitting in the living room. Roger was paying bills and Annette was glaring at her math homework.

"Hey, Dad?" She looked up at him.

"Hmm?" Was the answer.

"Can I skip school tomorrow?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No. Why?" He asked.

"'Cause…I'm boycotting the school system. They don't care about the students only about the state tests that give the school a good grade which means more people go to the school and the school gets more money." She said. Roger raised an eyebrow at her. "Because I hate math." Was the real reason.

"Figured." Roger looked back down at his calculator.

"So can I skip?" She asked hopefully.

"No."

"Please?"

"No. Now stop." Annette sighed and returned to her homework. As soon as she reread the problem,

"Please?"

"Annette!"

"Well then help me!" She said, just about ready to burn her text book.

"Me?" Roger looked at her. "Do math? Do you know me?"

"See?" Annette said. "It's your fault I can't do math!"

"How's it my fault?!" Roger asked incredulously.

"You gave me the 'I can't do math' gene!" She said as if it was obvious.

"Call Mark." He answered.

"He's not gonna come all the way over here to help me with my homework." Annette explained, though she knew he undoubtedly would. "It would be much easier for all involved parties if I just skipped school tomorrow." He looked at her. "Or you could just write me a note explaining why I couldn't do the homework…a death in the family or something…"

"Did your dog fall out the window?" Roger grinned.

"Huh?" Annette asked him confused.

"Never mind." Roger shook his head. "Call Mark."

"A note would be so much—" His glare cut her off.

"Call Mark." He repeated with finality. With a defeated sigh, Annette pulled out her phone and called her godfather.

"Hey there." Mark's voice stopped the ringing.

"Uncle Mark, your best friend's being mean to me." She said in a sad voice. Roger just rolled his eyes.

"Tell him to treat my goddaughter well or I'll kick his ass." Came the answer. Annette clicked the speakerphone button.

"What?" She pretended she hadn't heard. Mark repeated the sentence.

"Mark, shut up. What are you gonna do, beat me with your camera?" Roger said. Mark laughed.

"What's up?" He asked Annette, who took the phone off of speaker and put it back to her ear.

"The evilness of math." She said as she glared down at her homework.

"Ah." Mark said understanding. "I'll be over in ten."

"Thanks, Uncle Mark." Annette said. "See you soon. Bye." She hung up and turned to her father.

"Daddy?" She said in the cutest voice she could muster.

"Mmhmm?" Roger asked without looking up.

"I love you." Annette said.

"Duh." Roger smiled. "But you're going to school." Annette grumbled.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"I lied." Roger glared at her. "Okay, maybe I didn't lie." Roger rolled his eyes and kissed his daughter's forehead.

After trying hopelessly to solve some problems, Annette stood and went into the kitchen.

"Want something?" She called to Roger.

"Water." He called back.

"And I want coke!" Mark's voice came from the doorway.

"Who gave you permission to just waltz into my house?" Roger joked as he stood up and stretched a little.

"You did, moron, when you gave me a key." Mark dangled the key as he walked into the living room.

"Was I drunk when I did that?" Roger said, knowing perfectly well he hadn't been, as he had stopped getting drunk when Annette was born.

"Ha. Ha." Mark rolled his eyes.

"Here." Annette said walking into the living room and handing them both their drinks. They both thanked her and sat down.

"Now, the only way to not have to deal with math being so difficult…" Mark explained.

"Is to skip school." Annette concluded glaring at her father.

"Are you just gonna keep saying it until I give in?" Roger looked at her.

"Mmhmm." She nodded.

"Well then I guess you'll lose your voice soon enough," Roger said looking back down at the papers in front of him. "Which will work well for your mother and me."

"Shut up." Annette glared at him.

"Come on, focus." Mark urged, only to be cut off by Annette's phone ringing.

"Can't." Annette grinned. "Gotta get that." She answered the call.

"Hellooooooo." She said into the phone.

"Hey, sweetie." Came her mother's voice.

"Hey."

"Where's your Dad?" Mimi asked. "His phone's off."

"Dad, why's your phone off?" Annette passed on the question.

"Uh…" Roger looked down at his phone. "Hmm, I didn't even realize it was off."

"Here." Annette said and passed the phone to him.

"Hey, baby." Roger said once he took the phone.

"Can you do me a favor?" Mimi asked him.

"Anything."

"I won't be home till around nine-ish, so can you go to the market and pick up a few things? There's a list on the counter."

"Uh…" Roger looked down at his watch. It was three o'clock. "Sure."

"Thanks, baby. I'll see you tonight. Bye, love you." She hung up and Roger followed suit.

"What'd the wife want?" Mark asked.

"I gotta go to the market." Roger explained. "You guys wanna come?"

"Can I drive?" Annette asked.

"Yeah." Roger nodded. "Mark, you coming?"

"Are you crazy?" Mark looked at him as if he'd grown five heads. "You want me to get into the car with _her _driving?!" He joked.

"Hey!" Annette glared at him. Mark and Roger laughed.

"I'll wait here." Mark said. Annette went to the table by the door, where the car keys were.

"We'll be back soon." Roger said following his daughter as Mark turned on the TV. Roger and Annette went out to the car and got in.

"Turn up there, and park in that first spot." Roger told his daughter about fifteen minutes later as they reached their destination. Annette followed his directions and started to turn next to a big, white pick-up truck.

"Stop, Annette, stop!!!" Roger yelled. Too late. The car had hit the back of the pick up.

"I told you to stop." Roger looked at her.

"I did stop!"

"No, you didn't stop." Roger sighed. "Get out, let me park the car." Annette got out, somewhat scared of what would happen.

"Go inside and find out whose car this is." Roger said as he got into the driver's seat.

"What?" Annette asked. She'd heard him but didn't want to go in there. Enough people had seen her hit the car, she didn't want to have to go find out whose it was.

"Go inside—" He began to repeat, but a guy was walking over to them. "Never mind, I think that's the guy."

"What happened?" A man said coming towards the car. Roger got out of the car.

"Is this your car?" He asked and the man nodded. Roger began to pick up pieces of his car's headlight which had shattered. The other car had a small dent, but there was no real damage in either car. Right then, the owner of the market, who was a good friend of Roger's, was there.

"Were you driving?" He asked Annette who nodded slowly. "Don't worry," Isaac, the owner said. "Just five minutes before you, someone else did the same thing." That didn't make her feel any better at the time, but later she thought to herself _"I'm not a bad driver, that dude's a bad parker."_

"Come inside, sit down, and we'll work it all out." Isaac said to both men.

"Don't worry, Abe," Isaac turned to the owner of the truck. "I know him; we'll settle this without problem." As they began to go inside, Abe looked at Annette and said.

"Shit happens." She smiled a little, but not really feeling any better. They sat down inside and Roger handed Abe his insurance card so he could write down all the information.

"Relax." Roger told his daughter. "Nothing happened." Annette allowed a smile, but Roger knew she didn't feel relaxed at all. Abe decided to go to a nearby auto repair shop to see how much it would cost to fix the small dent. As soon as he left, Roger looked at Annette.

"You know, when you're mom and I were still dating, I had a brand new car. Well it was used, but it was new to me. And your mom, though she was twenty, had never driven before. So I let her drive the car. She totaled it."

"No way." Annette said wide-eyed.

"Mmhmm." Roger nodded. "Call her and say 'Mom, I'm like you now.'" Annette laughed and took out her cell phone. It rang a couple of times before Mimi's voice answered.

"Hey, Mom." Annette said. "I'm like you now."

"Why?" Mimi asked confused.

"What'd you do the first time you drove?"

"You crashed?!" Mimi shrieked.

"It's nothing big," Annette said and explained to her the situation. However, the explanation did not satisfy Mimi as she fired a bunch of questions.

"Uh…ask Dad." Annette handed the phone to her father.

"Hello?" Roger said putting it to his ear.

"What happened?!"

"Nothing, don't worry." Roger reassured her. "It was a big truck, a small parking space. It happened."

"Is she okay?!" Mimi demanded.

"She's fine and so am I."

"Any damage?" Mimi asked.

"Nothing big." Roger shrugged.

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"The guy went to see how much it would cost." Roger answered. "We'll settle it with insurance and all. It'll be fine."

"See?!" Mimi said. "I knew she shouldn't drive!"

"Mimi, stop." Roger sighed. "It wasn't her fault. She's a good driver. Relax, nothing happened." Mimi just sighed.

"I have to go. I'll see you tonight. Bye." They hung up.

Not five minutes after Roger and Mimi hung up, Roger's cell phone rang. It was Collins.

"Man, I heard you got into an accident." Collins said to his friend. Roger rolled his eyes.

"It was nothing." Roger explained what happened.

"Oh, okay. How's Annette? Real shaken up?"

"Yeah." Roger sighed. "Why did Mimi call you?"

"She said for me to go pick you guys up." Roger rolled his eyes again.

"The car's fine. It can be driven."

"Well, you know Mimi." Collins chuckled. Roger joined in.

"Thanks, though."

"Anytime. I'll see you later." Collins said.

"All right, bye." He hung up.

"Here," Roger handed Annette Mimi's shopping list. "Can you get everything while I wait for that guy to come back?"

"Sure." Annette stood and went to get everything. When she returned with the cart full, Roger and Abe were talking. She went and quietly stood next to Roger.

"…the shop was closed." Abe was saying. "I have your information. I'll go tomorrow and call you then." Roger nodded. The two shook hands and Abe left.

"You have everything?" Roger turned to Annette, whose response was a nod. Roger paid for the food and they went out to the car.

"Here." Roger handed Annette the keys.

"You're crazy. I'm not driving."

"Oh, yes you are."

"No. Not after that."

"It's the only way you'll get over it." Roger said putting the keys in her hand. "You're driving." Annette sighed and opened the car. The ride home contained no problems.

"Anything eventful happen?" Mark asked when the two were inside.

"I crashed the car." Annette told him.

"What?!" Mark asked, shocked.

"Well I didn't crash…I hit a car." She said.

"What the hell happened?!" He demanded looking from his goddaughter to his best friend. They explained to him what happened.

"No one got hurt, right?"

"No, everyone's good." Roger answered. Annette noticed her math book still lying open on the table.

"I'm uh…gonna go to my room." Annette said attempting to avoid the school work. Roger, however, had followed her gaze to the textbook.

"Do your homework." He said.

"Damn." She cursed under her breath, but sat next to Mark and began to work.


	5. Meeting Morgan

A pleasant dream was shattered by the annoying sound of an alarm clock. Sighing in the ever so common "I hate Mondays" mode, Annette reluctantly hoisted herself off her bed. Clad in black jeans and a red shirt that said "I didn't do it" in black writing, Annette made her way to the kitchen where Roger was yawning with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"'Morning." He yawned. His yawn was contagious, and Annette just nodded in response.

"What time are we leaving?" She asked him. Since Annette's school was on the way to Roger's, he drove her to school in the mornings.

"Seven." He answered, taking a sip of his coffee. Annette looked at her watch, which read 6:45.

At seven the two left the house. Roger pulled up to the front of Annette's school with about half an hour before classes started.

"See you later." Roger smiled at his daughter, leaning in to kiss her forehead.

"Bye, Dad." She smiled back. She got out and began to walk towards the back of the school where she met her friends every morning. The halls were almost deserted inside the building, save for a few people at their lockers, since everyone spent their time outside before the bell rang.

"Davis!" A voice said behind her. She could hear the malice in it. "I saw you out there with your Daddy. I'm surprised you're walking around without him holding your head, Daddy's girl." She rolled her eyes in sheer annoyance and kept walking. She heard the sound of running footsteps. "Hey!" Travis called in anger, grabbing her arm.

"For G-d's sake, leave me alone!" She snapped. "I don't care about you or anything you have to say whatsoever so just grow up and back the fuck off!" She felt his anger increase, as his grip on her arm tightened so much that she had to work on not wincing.

"Kindly let go of your classmate." A familiar voice growled from behind Travis. He let go at the authoritative tone and turned around to face the man now standing over him with a threatening glare. "I trust you can find your way to the principle's office?" The boy didn't move. "Or shall I escort you?" He turned on his feet and stomped off. They saw the door to the office swing open as Travis stormed inside.

"You okay, Annette?"

"What are you doing here, Uncle Collins?"

"Subbing." He shrugged.

"For who?" She asked, hoping her "uncle" would be her teacher for the day.

"Uh…" Collins looked down at a paper in his hand. "Mr. Landers?"

"Oh, no way!" She grinned.

"You have him?" Collins smiled.

"Homeroom and math." She grinned.

"Good." Collins nodded. "Come with me."

"Why?" She asked but followed him nonetheless. He didn't answer, only led her into the classroom.

"I'll be right back." He said. "Wait here." He left the room and was back in about five minutes. Annette wanted to know where he'd gone but before she could ask, he had questions of his own.

"Who's that boy?" Collins adopted a firm, parental tone as he crossed his arm. "Is that the boy your father told me about? The one who always bothers you?" Annette's response was a sigh.

"Why does he bother you?"

"I dunno." Annette answered sincerely. She was saved from further interrogation as the bell rang. Collins gave her a warm smile before switching to teacher mode. Annette went to her seat as the class slowly filed in.

"I thought you weren't here." Annette's friend Jeremy told her, because she hadn't shown up outside before school started. "Was it that fucker Travis again?" Enough of Annette's friends had defended her enough times for the situation to be kept secret. Annette shrugged.

"Sorta." She said.

"Woah, isn't that your uncle?" Jeremy had noticed Collins standing, waiting for attention. When he finally received it, he began.

"I'm Mr. Collins." He said professionally. "Mr. Landers is going into surgery this morning, as I'm sure he's told you. He'll be back in a month or so. Until then, I'll be your teacher for homeroom and for those of you that have Mr. Landers for Math."

When the class ended, Annette didn't move. She had Math first period.

"Homework!" Collins said after repeating his speech about why he was there. Annette took out her binder to get the homework she had done with Mark. She turned to the homework section in her binder, but her assignment wasn't there. She looked through the entire binder in frustration. The time she had actually done her homework, she'd left it at home. Collins was walking up and down the rows collecting the work. When Annette didn't hand him a sheet of paper, he raised an eyebrow and continued his rounds.

"Page 87. Numbers one through twenty-five." Collins said once he reached the front of the room. The class took out their books (which Annette had left on the table, with her homework in it.) She groaned. When Collins noticed she wasn't doing class work either, he called her over. Another raised eyebrow asked the question for him.

"I swear I did the homework!" Annette said. "You can ask Dad or Uncle Mark…he came over to help me with it. I left it in my book on the table."

"You have till five today to get it to me," Collins nodded. "Which should be easy enough since I assume I'll be taking you home." He allowed a small smile.

"Thanks, Uncle Collins." She smiled back. He handed her an extra textbook and she began her work.

Half an hour later Collins was going over a question that half the class didn't understand. The classroom door opened, and in walked Lucas, staring at a piece of paper in his hands.

"Excuse me, Mr.—" He looked up. "Collins?"

"Yes? You're interrupting my class." Annette and Lucas smiled at the joke, which the rest of the class didn't get.

"The principle needs to see Annette." Both of them looked at her and she stood. Collins nodded at her to go and she and Lucas walked out.

"What'd you do?" Lucas asked his cousin.

"Nothing as far as I know." She shrugged; but Lucas wasn't listening, he was looking at a girl up ahead, walking with a bathroom pass.

"That's her!" Lucas whispered to Annette. "That's Morgan!" She was a pretty girl. Her long blond hair went well with her crystal blue eyes.

"Oooooh." Annette teased.

"Shut up." Lucas said as they reached the office. "I'll see you later."

"Ms. Davis, sit." The principle said kindly as she entered her office. She took the only available seat, next to Travis.

"Mrs. Doley, I—" She was cut off.

"I have been informed," She said. "That you and Mr. McMullen here have been having some trouble." She looked pointedly at the boy whose features showed utter contempt. "Mr. Collins was a witness." She continued. "Is this common or a one time thing?"

"Not a one time thing." Annette mumbled wanting to be anywhere but where she was. She knew that Collins had reported it, but decided against saying anything to her uncle about it. She knew he was trying to act in her best interest.

"Mr. McMullen," Doley turned to Travis. "This is going to stop. You have a week's detention." A moment of fear was covered by a look of hatred on Travis's face. Whether the hatred was aimed towards Doley or herself, Annette could not tell.

"Thank you, Annette, you can go." She gave a dismissive nod. Annette stood and returned to class.

"Everything all right?" Collins asked her as she walked in. She nodded and sat back down. Eventually the class ended and Annette went to English which went by fast, making it lunch time. Annette went to the cafeteria and spotted the table where her friends were seated. She walked over and took the chair next to Lucas.

"So what happened in the office?" Lucas asked her.

"Nothing." She answered quickly and noticed Morgan walking near them, the perfect way to change the subject.

"D'you talk to Moooooooorgan?" She teased.

"No, shut up!" He looked mortified and Annette, following his gaze, saw that she was indeed coming towards them.

"You're Annette Davis, right?" She said shyly.

"Uh, yeah…" She said as Lucas seemed to shrink into his seat.

"I'm Morgan." The girl introduced.

"Hi, Morgan." Annette said slowly, confused.

"Could I talk to you for a minute?" The freshman seemed to be shier by the word.

"Uh, sure." Annette kicked her bag off the chair in front of her and Morgan sat.

"What can I do for you?" Annette said in her best secretary impression. Morgan chuckled slightly.

"You see, I'm in Mr. Martin's class." She began. Annette nodded. She'd had Mr. Martin, the guitar teacher, last year. She had chosen guitar as her elective even though her father had taught her to play since she was very young, because it was a nice break in the day to be able to sit for two hours and play during school.

"I've been in his class for two weeks and I still can't play the scales!" Morgan exclaimed in exasperation. Annette raised an eyebrow, still perplexed as to why this girl she'd never spoken to before was telling her this. Lucas just stared at his crush sitting across from them.

"Mr. Martin suggested I talk to you." Morgan explained. "He said you had a way of explaining things that seemed to work for many people."

"Well my dad taught me to play when I was like two so he had to explain everything a certain way, and break everything down." Annette told her.

"Could…you help me?" Morgan asked almost inaudibly.

"Yeah, sure." Annette smiled. "Come over after school. If I can't help you my Dad will for sure." Annette took a bite of her sandwich, so that her mouth was full and she could not answer Morgan's next question.

"Your dad's real good?" Finding this the perfect opportunity to talk to her, Lucas answered for his cousin.

"He's amazing." Morgan looked at him, embarrassed that she didn't know who he was.

"I'm Lucas." He clarified. "Annette's my cousin. My uncle's amazing at guitar." He said again. "He's taught us all to play."

"Oh. That's so cool." Morgan smiled. Annette whispered "You're drooling." So only Lucas could hear. He kicked her under the table.

"So where should I meet you after school?" Morgan asked Annette.

"Un, in front of Landers's room."

"Great, I have him last period."

"There's a sub." Lucas told her.

"Oh right, his knee surgery." Morgan nodded. "Is the sub cool?" The cousins shared a grin before nodding.

Lunch ended soon after, sending Annette to chemistry, Morgan to Math and Lucas to film class (because his father had begged him to sign up for it.) Lucas had agreed to come over Annette's after school. Whether he came to be with Morgan or Annette, Annette had no doubt as to whom her cousin was looking forward to spending the afternoon with. So when three o'clock came around, Annette and Lucas made their way to Collins's room.

"Uncle Collins!" The cousins said in unison as they walked in. Morgan was sitting in front of Collins, as he explained to her the homework that she didn't understand. Collins held up a finger that said "one moment" to Annette and Lucas.

"Any other questions?" He said to Morgan.

"No, sir, thank you." She answered as she began to put her things away.

"Morgan's coming over." Annette told Collins.

"Okay." He smiled at Morgan. "Lucas, are you going home or to Annette's too?"

"Annette's." Lucas answered.

"Great. Let's go." The four went out to Collins's car. As he was driving to Annette's, he said to Lucas,

"Hey, weren't you supposed to get your grade for that documentary you did for film class today?"

"Ugh, don't remind me." Lucas groaned.

"What'd you get?" Annette asked.

"A 'C'." He said.

"A 'C's not bad." Morgan chimed in.

"It is when you're dad's Mark Cohen." He muttered.

"He's one of those parents who are all obsessive about their kids' grades?"

"No. Just film."

"Why? Film's not as important to parents as other classes, right?"

"You don't know Mark Cohen." Lucas, Annette and Collins all said in unison.

"I wish I could take film." She said to him. "My parents said it was a waste of time and I had to do something more practical. I love filming stuff and making documentaries of nothing in particular."

"You should meet my dad." He mumbled, but he was in fact serious.

When they arrived at Annette's, the three said goodbye to Collins and walked into the house (Annette ran back out to give him her homework). Lucas went straight to the kitchen and Annette went to get her guitar from her room and an extra guitar for Morgan from the many guitars Roger had. As Annette and Morgan began their tutorial on guitars, Lucas watched Morgan in awe. She was so beautiful. A couple hours later, with many breaks in between, the two were still at the guitar lesson. Roger walked in and heard two guitars being played. Wondering who was there, he walked into the living room.

"Hey, kid." Roger said to Lucas as he ruffled his hair.

"Hey, Uncle Roger."

"Hey, sweetie." He said to his daughter.

"Hey, Dad." She smiled at him. "This is Morgan."

"Hello, Morgan." He smiled.

"Hi, Mr. Davis."

"Please. Roger."

"I still can't play the scales…" Morgan muttered to Annette.

"It's time to bring in the expert." Annette told her. "Dad, can you help please?"

"Sure, what's up?" After Annette explained the situation, Roger took her guitar and broke it down slowly for Morgan. Ten minutes later, as if by magic, she could now play the scales.

"Yay!" She jumped up. "It's a miracle!" The rest laughed. "May I use your bathroom?" She asked politely once she's settled down.

"I'll show you where it is." Said Lucas. He took her to the bathroom upstairs just to spend those two extra seconds with his crush.

"Ugh, I left my purse downstairs." The girl muttered. "My makeup's in there."

"You don't need any makeup." Lucas said before he could stop himself. "You're beautiful as it is." Morgan blushed and so did Lucas.

"Th-thank you." She stammered. He smiled at her and she forgot all about her makeup. After she used the bathroom, and they went back downstairs, the three began to do homework. As Annette went to her room to do hers (with every intention of leaving the hopefully soon-to-be couple alone together) the two worked in silence for very little before they began to chat. They discovered they had much in common, and when Annette returned downstairs after about an hour, she was pleased to see how close together they were sitting.

"They'd make a cute couple." Roger said appearing next to Annette who was watching them, unseen.

"I hope, Dad." She grinned. "I hope."

A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, chapter five! Hope it didn't suck too much. Pleeeease review. Uh, yeah, I think that's about all I'd like to say for now. Thank you so much for all of you who have reviewed up to now!!

-Ale


	6. Don'tAskTheQuestionIfYouFearTheAnswer

WARNING: Some cursing in this chapter.

A week passed and Lucas and Morgan were getting closer and closer. Annette was certain that Morgan liked Lucas back, but Lucas refused to accept that possibility. Monday, they walked home together and Tuesday they decided to do their history project together despite the face that they weren't in the same class, and Wednesday and Thursday they worked together after school even though the project wasn't due for two weeks and they were both procrastinators.

"Do you like my cousin?" Annette asked Morgan over the phone Thursday night; they'd become fast friends. It amused Annette how much they now trusted each other, and she didn't even know her new friend's last name.

"You're not gonna tell him, are you?" Morgan confirmed Annette's suspicion.

"Don't worry." Annette said, because she couldn't say she wouldn't tell Lucas without lying.

"He's nice and compassionate and caring and kind and funny and smart…" Morgan's voice was dreamy as she listed her crush's attributes.

"Yeah," Morgan said. "Right." As soon as she hung up, she dialed her cousin's number.

"Lucas, ask Morgan out."

"Annette, stop." He groaned. "She doesn't like me. That's it."

"No, she just told me she does!"

"You—you're serious?" She could practically hear him smiling.

"Yes. So you gonna ask her out or what?"

"Yeah." He grinned. "What should I do?" She had to laugh to at him.

"Invite her family over for dinner tomorrow. That way she can meet your dad like she wants to, and all the parents can meet and Aunt Dana won't be able to use the "I don't know her parents" excuse when you wanna go out." She said, knowing full well how over protective her aunt was.

"Yeah, good idea. Hold on." Annette heard Lucas, walking, and knew he was going to talk to Mark.

"Dad, can a friend and her family come for dinner tomorrow? She's into film and really wants to meet you." He asked.

"Sure, but tomorrow's Friday. If you want to have them over when the whole family's here, that's fine with me." She heard Mark answer. Afraid of losing his nerve, he agreed on the following day.

"He said yes, I'll call you later." Lucas told Annette and hung up. Sure enough, Annette's phone rang about a half hour later, but this time it was Morgan.

"Lucas invited my family over for dinner tomorrow."

"And are you going?" Annette acted as if the invitation hadn't been her idea.

"Yeah, my parents agreed." She said.

"Cool, cool." Annette said happily. Her matchmaking skills were doing well.

"He said there'd be a lot of people there." Morgan told Annette. "Do you know who?"

"Me, my parents, Lucas's parents and siblings, Collins and our aunts and their son."

"Oh, just your family then?" She asked.

"Yep, one big happy family." She joked.

"Cool. Well, I gotta go." Morgan sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye!" Annette said cheerfully.

"Morgan's coming to dinner tomorrow." Annette proudly announced to her parents, who were snuggled together on the couch watching TV.

"That chick that Lucas likes?" Roger asked.

"And who likes Lucas." Annette nodded.

"Sweet!" Roger grinned.

"Wait, Lucas has a girlfriend?!" Mimi asked.

"Not yet." Annette said, sitting next to her.

"Jeez, Mimi, get with the program!" Roger joked.

"Shut up." Mimi said smacking him lightly, causing Roger to pout. Mimi rolled her eyes and kissed him.

"Better?"

"Considerably." Roger smiled, causing Mimi to smile as well. She snuggled in closer to her husband, who graciously held her tight.

The following day at school started as a normal day for Annette. Even happy, since she was hoping that by the end of the night, Lucas and Morgan would be officially together. It was an easy day with all easy classes. She went to her first class, Drama, and did a really good job on her scene. In health she aced a test and in PE, though she hated the class, they played basketball all period. She was walking home from school, (Collins had a meeting) when it happened.

"Davis." Travis stepped in front of her.

"This gets old." Annette said. "It's been two years. I dunno what your problem is, but come off it." But Travis wasn't being his usual malicious self. He looked scary, murderous, and Annette subconsciously took a step back. He had a black eye and a cut lip, undoubtedly he'd picked a fight with the wrong person. He took a stop towards her, then another.

"I got suspended." His voice was low, deadly. "When I refused to take those detentions, she suspended me." His voice was growing colder by the word and for the first time since the whole thing started two years before, Annette was scared of Travis McMullen. "My dad wasn't happy about that." There was a look of hatred in his eyes. Hatred, coldness, and something else she couldn't name. He practically spat the word "dad" but Annette could barely comprehend what he was talking about. Why was he telling her about his father? She looked to the left, to the right, ready to run, but Travis caught on to her intentions.

"You're not going anywhere, Davis." His voice was even lower, even deadlier, even colder. Even scarier. He took another step toward her so they were barely inches apart; and before Annette had any notion of what was going on, he raised a hand and slapped her hard across the face. She was frozen to the spot. His expression changed; his eyes were wild, unconnected to reality. Annette barely heard footsteps behind them as Travis pushed her against a building wall. As if in slow motion, Annette only just saw Travis raise his fist before he was hauled off her. She caught the words "son of a bitch" and "I'll fuckin' kill you" from vaguely familiar voices, but she didn't see who or what was going on. She was looking straight ahead, seeing nothing at all except Travis's raised fist, and his eyes. What was that third thing she'd seen in them?

"Annette!" Jeremy was shaking Annette, scared that she wasn't okay.

"I'm good." She snapped back into reality.

"Did that mother fucker hurt you too bad?" It was her other friend, Michael. Both her friends' faces were set in a cold glare. She was thankful for friends who cared so much.

"Here." Jeremy said softly before she could answer, handing her a small towel he always carried around to wipe off sweat when he had football practice. "It's clean." He smiled when she looked at him confused.

"What for?" Annette asked him.

"You're…bleeding." Jeremy told her; and she was suddenly aware of a vague sting in her cheek.

"He was wearing a ring." Michael told her. "It must have cut you." They began to walk home in silence.

"What happened?" Michael finally said.

"I…I dunno." It was the truth. Silence fell upon them once more. They soon arrived at Annette's house.

"You're okay?" Jeremy asked, not too keen on the idea of leaving her alone.

"Fine." She smiled at him. "Thanks for…well, everything." They each gave her a hug before departing. Annette didn't do anything at all. She went to the couch and just fell asleep. She hadn't wiped the blood off her face and it remained there over a forming bruise, as she still hadn't grasped what had happened.

It was seven o'clock when Roger walked into his house.

"Annette?" He called. He had gone grocery shopping and needed some help with the bags. When no response was given, he called again, but still, there was no answer. He walked into the living room and smiled slightly at his sleeping daughter. He decided not to wake her; he'd get the bags himself. Just as he turned back around, he spotted red on his daughter's face. He turned back to her and realized that she had a huge bruise on her cheek and there was dry blood all over it. It looked much worse than it was. Though it was just one cut, Annette had fallen asleep on it and smeared it, causing a scene that now horrified Roger. He staggered back a bit before composing himself. He shook his daughter awake.

"Hi, Dad." She muttered groggily.

"Annette," Roger tried to stay calm. "What happened to your face? His voice was a hoarse whisper." Annette touched her face and winced when it stung. It all came flooding back and she finally understood exactly what had happened. Travis had hit her. No one had ever hit her before.

"I got hit by the ball in PE." She muttered, feeling horrible. She never lied to Roger, never having the necessity to do so; but she knew that if she told him he'd go crazy, and she didn't want to cause him any stress.

"There's blood everywhere!"

"I forgot to wash it off. I got really tired and fell asleep on it. I guess it smeared." That part was true. Roger looked at her skeptically. As if luck was in her favor, the house phone rang, Roger got up slowly, never taking his eyes off Annette until he walking into the kitchen.

"Hello?" He asked warily, putting the phone to his ear.

"Hi, it's Michael. Annette's not picking up her cell. Is she okay?" He paused before asking the next question. "How's her…face? It didn't look too good…" Roger remembered that Annette had told him earlier in the year, that none of her friends were in her PE class. Though she'd made friends since then, and Michael and Annette had been friends for years, it meant Michael couldn't have seen it happen.

"You saw what happened?" Roger asked afraid of the answer.

"Uh…yeah." Michael sounded uncomfortable. "It was Jeremy and I that got the guy off her." Roger's voice caught in his throat and he could barely utter the words.

"Michael…what happened?!" Michael told him that he and Jeremy had been walking home from school when they heard Travis say Annette's name. They went to where the voices were coming from and turned the corner just in time to see Travis slap Annette. Roger had to grasp the counter in alarm. When he finished the story, Roger thanked him and hung up. He continued to clutch the counter so hard, his knuckled were beginning to turn white. He felt as he'd never felt before. Someone had laid hands on his baby. He didn't know what to do. He wanted that boy dead. And furthermore, Annette had lied to him. Roger was hurt. He knew his daughter had never lied to her before, and the fact that she now had, while wearing a bruise, scared him all the more. So many thoughts were rushing through his head. Should he hunt Travis down? Should he call the cops? Should he call his wife? He was in shock. Why would anyone want to hurt his daughter? He knew Annette had never done anything to the boy who'd had it in for her since the day he'd met her.

Roger emerged slowly from the kitchen. Annette looked at him to see his face white. In his eyes there was fear. Where had she seen that look of fear so recently? And suddenly Annette knew what the third thing she had seen in Travis was. Through that entire act, he had been scared of something.

"Dad?" Annette asked cautiously. It took a few seconds before Roger could find his voice.

"Why did you lie to me?" He whispered, and she knew she had hurt him.

"Dad, I'm so sorry." She couldn't look him in the eye. She knew she had hurt one of the people she loved the most. She knew she had an ideal, very rare relationship with her father and she was now terrified that she had ruined it with that lie. Tears welled up in her eyes and she concentrated on the floor. "I didn't want to cause you any stress." She muttered almost inaudibly. Roger knew that she had lied to him because she had thought, though she had been wrong, that it was in Roger's best interest. He sat next to her. Their relationship remained in tact.

"You never have to lie to me." Roger said. "I know you did it for me, and I'm not mad. But it's my job to worry about you. And it's your job to let me." He attempted an unsuccessful smile.

"Tell me what happened." He was hoping he would find out more and maybe understand the intentions of the person he now loathed; but his daughter's explanation left him even more confused than Michael's. As the last bit of pain drained from Roger's eyes they were replaced with an angry fire. If he ever came within an inch of Travis McMullen…but his thought was interrupted as the phone rang again. This time it was his cell phone and he answered his wife's call, putting it on speakerphone.

"I'm running a little late." Mimi said. "Go to Mark's, I'll meet you there."

"What are you talking about?" Roger asked confused, all thoughts except his daughter having left his mind.

"It's Friday, Roger!" Mimi said exasperated. "We're supposed to be at Mark's at eight. It's seven-thirty. You're not ready?!" Realization dawned on both Roger and Annette. Annette stood and rushed upstairs, needing to take a shower and get dressed.

"I gotta go!" She heard Roger say to Mimi and he followed her, going into his own room.

Fifteen minutes later, Annette stepped out of the bathroom. She dressed quickly and sat in front of her mirror. She saw the bruise for the first time. It looked much worse than it was. She didn't feel any pain at all. Though Annette never wore any make-up, except for eyeliner, a mother who was a dancer and an interest in theatre had taught her about stage make-up. She was able to cover the bruise, so that it wasn't noticeable. It was seven-fifty.

"Annette, you ready?!" Roger called.

"Yeah!" She called back. She took a final look in the mirror. "The power of make-up." She muttered. She rushed downstairs, found her phone, where it had fallen in between the couch cushions, and went out to the car where Roger was waiting. She got in and Roger took off. She looked down at her phone and was surprised to see thirteen missed calls. One from Morgan, three from Jeremy, three from Michael and six from Lucas. She was confused, wondering why he'd called her so many times, but decided she'd find out soon enough; and she did. The second she'd set foot into the Cohen household, Lucas grabbed her arm and led her into a separate room.

"What's going on?" Annette asked.

"What the hell happened?!" He said, Annette could tell he was struggling to control his temper. "Michael and Jeremy both called me!"

"Oh…"

"Oh?!" Michael asked incredulously.

"You're really making a huge deal out of nothing." Annette said calmly. "It's done, I'm okay."

"No, I'm not making a huge deal!" He said. "I'll be making a huge deal tomorrow when I kill him!" Annette sighed.

"Look." She tried to explain. "My dad knows, and he's going to tell my mom. He'll also tell your Dad and Uncle Collins and my mom will tell Aunt Maureen and Aunt Joanne. Then everyone's going to make a huge deal out of nothing. So just leave it alone."

"How can you say that?" Lucas's voice had softened. "You got jumped, Annette."

"Jumped?" She looked at him confused. "No, I didn't get jumped. Just slapped."

"Annette, if Jeremy and Michael hadn't come along, he would have beaten you up. He tried to jump you." Annette hadn't even thought of this and she didn't want to.

"Morgan's coming and you need to focus on her." She said before leaving the room. Morgan and her family were supposed to arrive at eight-thirty. As she walked into the living room, she was proven right. The conversation immediately died when she emerged. She was barely out the door of the other room when Mimi ran over to her and hugged her. Apparently Roger hadn't wasted any time in telling the entire family. It was like a scene from a movie to Annette. The men, including Lucas, were all wearing a hard glare while the women all looked at her worriedly.

"This is insane." She muttered. "Guys, stop." She said out loud. "It's no big deal, leave it alone." She hadn't grasped how mad her family really was though, because Mark jumped to his feet.

"I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch." He said in a low voice, and Annette knew that if anyone in the family ever saw him, they indeed would. She looked around the room, hoping someone would share her point of view. But Collins's statement shut down that hope.

"You'll have to wait." He growled to Mark. "He's in my second period tomorrow."

"I'm calling the cops." Maureen said. And to Annette's distress, no one objected.

"No, you guys, please!" She pleaded. And at least for the moment, her pleas worked, because the doorbell rang. Lucas went to get the door and walked back into the living room momentarily, leading Morgan and her parents.

"This is Morgan and her family." Lucas introduced.

"I'm Drew; this is my wife, Sherri." Morgan's father introduced. "My son will be right in."

"Excuse me?" A voice said from the foyer.

"Come in." Mark called. A young boy, looking to be Annette's age entered the room. Annette, Collins and Lucas froze.

"This is my son, Travis."

A/N: I have mixed feelings about this chapter. I'm proud of it in some aspects, but I'm worried Annette sounds like a Mary-Sue…and if she does I really don't like that. So please let me know if she does because I'll have to fix that. I wasn't trying to make her be a victim or anything…yeah, that has me pretty worried. Please review and _please_ tell me if Annette is anything like a Mary-Sue. Next, I'm not having writer's block or anything, I know where I'm going with this and I have things planned out (which is more than I can say for some of my other work) but if anyone has any idea, _please_, let me know.

Thank you for reading. Thank you ashleyjaye, Tina101, Fangirl44, the rent addict BohoRoohaha and Rachel for reviewing. It means a lot to me.

-Ale


	7. A Father's Damage

It was fear that kept Annette frozen to the spot. For Collins and Lucas, though, it was sheer anger. Shock loomed over all of them. Though the others didn't know what was going on, never even imagining that the boy they all shared a hatred for was standing right in front of them, they could feel something wrong. Roger, by the look on some of his family members' faces, was getting an idea of what was going on.

"What'd you say your last name was?" Roger asked calmly.

"McMullen." Drew said cheerfully, enlightening the rest of the family to the situation. Annette saw a look on her father's face she'd never seen before.

"Kenny, Lacey, Tommy," He said through gritted teeth. "Upstairs." The look he was wearing was not one to be argued with. They all left, no idea what was going on. The oblivion was shared by all McMullens, except Travis, his expression was unreadable.

"May I ask what's going on?" Drew asked slowly. Mark and Collins shared an agreeing look when Roger took a step forward. Collins grabbed him and took him outside.

"Come outside." Mark said to Drew. "Please." He added. Drew began to follow and his son went after him. Dana followed as soon as Mark had said the word "outside." When the front door closed, Joanne continued to hold Mimi's arm with one hand and Maureen's with the other. Both women were being held back. Annette hurried after the group, but Dana had made Lucas stay where was. Morgan and her mother were standing there more confused then they'd ever been. When Annette walked out the door, she saw Collins and Mark talking hurriedly to her father, both of Collins' hands on his shoulders. Feet away, Dana was the one talking to Drew, telling him what had happened. Travis was standing just out of reach of his father, looking like he'd like to hit the first thing that moved. Annette saw Drew's face harden and knew Dana had gotten to the part where Travis had hid her.

"Excuse me." Annette spoke up and all turned to look at her.

"Could we stop this, please?" The last thing Annette wanted was to be the cause of this whole mess. "We all came here for a nice family dinner. Please, let's do that."

"Annette," Roger said through gritted teeth. "This boy—" Annette finally exploded, and all the patience she'd been faking was suddenly gone.

"I know what he did!" She yelled. "After all, it was me he did it to! I now you all have good intentions, but you're just making things worse!" No one knew that the main reason Annette wanted to put a stop to it, was fear. The last time Travis had gotten in trouble on her behalf, she'd been jumped, as Lucas put it.

It wasn't a common feeling, the anger that the whole family was experiencing and it wasn't an easy one to let go. Annette felt as if she had been sucked into some horrible made-for-TV-movie drama. Drew took the initiative. He shoved his son towards the door.

"Inside and not another word." He growled. Dana rushed in, knowing she would have to retain Mimi's motherly instincts. Roger was breathing hard. Mark said something Annette could not hear to him. He closed his eyes for a second before nodding as he opened his eyes again. He went up to his daughter and pulled her into a hug before leading her inside, followed by Collins and Mark. Lucas's fists were balled. Maureen was glaring and Mimi was seething. When Sherri turned to her husband to find out what was going on, his answer of "later" left her and Morgan in oblivion. They forced their way through dinner and as soon as it was over, Lucas, Morgan and Annette hurried off to Lucas's room; but it wasn't long until she couldn't bear the questions and went out for a walk. As she passed the living room, she did not see Travis or his dad.

A gust of wind hit Annette as she pulled open the door. She stuck her hands in her pockets and walked out. She stared down at the sidewalk as she walked, lost in thought. She'd never seen her father as mad as he'd been tonight. What would he have done had his best friends not been holding him back? She started to think about abused kids; kids who had to experience everyday looks on their fathers' faces like the look Roger had worn, and the actions that matched such a furious mood. She remembered once again how lucky she was to have such a loving family. Not only parents who would do anything for her, but aunts, uncles and cousins took. She truly felt like the luckiest person alive.

A sickening crack broke though Annette's thoughts, followed by a sharp intake of breath, just as around the corner. Sure that someone had fallen and broken something, she dashed around the corner to help, but froze as she caught sight of what was really happening. There stood Drew, one arm balled into a menacing fist and his other hand holding his son against the alley wall. A bleeding nose told Annette that Drew had broken his son's nose. She stood there frozen, unseen for a moment as Drew raised his fist again and hit Travis once more.

"You worthless moron!" Drew bellowed. "You have no sense!" Every other word seemed to be punctuated with another bruise. "Always getting in trouble! You want trouble, I'll give you some!" Another crack resounded the alley. "And of all people you choose that Davis girl!" He was now kicking as well. "You want to get sued?!" Hearing her name had unfrozen her, and she ran, never having been seen. Now it all made sense to her. The bruises he donned, his constantly angry attitude; and he just took it all, barely making a sound. As she suddenly remembered the first day he'd walked into her class. She'd been talking about her dad when he yelled…

She stopped running only when she reached the sidewalk to the house.

"Dad!" She shrieked from the driveway. "DAD!" Right as she reached the door it was wrenched opened; there stood Roger, face white with fear and worry. Annette didn't even notice the rest of the adults standing behind him.

"Annette, what's wrong?!" Roger jumped the steps to his daughter. She grabbed her hand and ran. "What is it?!" Roger demanded as he was dragged. A low moan answered him. Annette pulled him into the alleyway where Travis now lay on the floor, his father, teeth bared, kicking him repeatedly. Without even thinking, Roger ran over and pulled Drew off his son, hurling him to the opposite wall. The focus of Drew's anger was now directed at Roger, who ducked his punch and defended himself. The men began to fight. Annette stood in the alleyway entrance, watching horrified. Travis didn't even seem to be aware of what was going on.

"Roger!" A voice yelled and Annette turned to see that Mark and Collins had been following. Collins ran over to Travis, picked him up and was gone before a word was said. Mark ran forward and pulled Roger back, who panted against this friend's firm grip. Without looking back, Mark pulled Roger out of the alleyway, grabbing Annette's arm as he passed her. Not a word was spoken on the short walk back to the house, but when they arrived, Collins was not there. Morgan was sitting in the living room, quietly sobbing into Lucas's embrace.

"Collins and Sherri took him to the hospital." Dana informed Mark quietly. Roger sunk onto the couch, pulling Annette down next to him. He put an arm around her and kissed her forehead.

"I love you." He muttered. Annette leaned against him not saying a word. She was confused. His father's statement had turned Travis into exactly like him, though Morgan remained a sweet girl. Why didn't Sherri do anything to stop him? Why hadn't anyone ever noticed any signs and don't anything to help? Why did innocent boys have to turn into bitter abusers because of their fathers? If Travis ever had kids would he treat them the way Drew treated him? Would Travis turn a kid into him as Drew had done to Travis? Or could he, with proper help, recover from it all? Her head was spinning. She was paying no attention.

"Annette? Annette can you hear me?" Roger was saying.

"Sorry…" She murmured.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine." Why was he asking if _she_ was okay? She wasn't the one who'd been beat up by her father.

"Can I go to the hospital now?" Morgan sniffed.

"I'll take you." Roger nodded to her. Annette stood up with Roger and Lucas stood too.

"I'll come with you." He said to Morgan, who nodded. Annette didn't bother to speak. She simply made her way to the door. The rest followed and soon they were on their way to the hospital.

Twenty minutes later, the four were sitting in the waiting room. They'd been told there had been no extensive damage. A broken nose and a few broken ribs was the worst of it. He'd been getting a few more X-rays at the time of their arrival, prohibiting their entrance.

"You may go in now." A nurse told them. Morgan was the only one who did. When Morgan came back out, she looked at Annette.

"If you hadn't stopped, he would've bled too much. You saved his life." She said simply. "He wants to talk to you." She stood and, still without saying a word, went inside.

"They arrested him." Travis said as she walked in, confusing her more than ever. Why would he suddenly talk to her as if nothing bad had ever happened between them?

"That's…good." She nodded.

"A psychologist came to talk to me." He was paying extra attention to the bed sheets. "Asked me if there was ever a time when I felt like I was him." He continued to watch the sheets intently. "I hate him, you know. And when I feel like him, I hat myself too. I just can't control it. The psychologist said she could help me overcome that or whatever. But first I had to talk to the person who makes me feel like that. For as long as I can remember, the only emotion he's shown me was hate. While all my friends ran to their fathers to show them the 90s they'd made on their tests and got taken to a baseball game for reward, my dad beat me up for waking him.

"That first day at school, I was later because of him. I'd confessed that I needed him and he beat me like never before, beat me for being 'weak,' for wanting from him what all my friends had. Well, I was 13." He finally looked at her. "You had what I wanted. Since then, whenever I look at you, I see what I'd wanted that day, the 'mark of my weakness' as he'd say, the crime for which I'd been punished." He sighed and looked back down. "The psychologist said that by trying to hurt you, I'd been trying to squash the weakness inside of me. Even though she it's not a weakness…" He trailed off. He looked at her once more. "She said she couldn't help till I admitted all that to you and to myself."

Annette remained silent, listening and feeling as if something wasn't right. She felt as if this whole speech was so cliché, so like a badly made movie.

"What would you say," Travis looked at her, "If I said I'd never meant to hurt you?" Annette actually laughed.

"You're right." He sighed. "I did…I did mean it, I guess."

"Look, what's the point—" Annette began, but was cut off.

"I don't like the way I am and if it takes me admitting that to you for the psychologist to change that than I'll do it."

"Right." Annette said. "Well I'd advise you that to grow up first." She said before walking out leaving him staring at her.

"Annette?" Roger stood.

"I'm ready." She said before walking past him. He quickly followed.

"Honey, what happened?!" Roger asked worriedly.

"Nothing." Annette stopped and turned to him. "I'm just done here. There's nothing left for us to do so we should go home."

"Okay." Roger consented. "Let me just get Luc—"

"I'm here, Uncle Roger." Lucas said from behind him. "Morgan's staying. She wants to be alone." Annette turned around again and made her way to the door, leaving her father and cousin to scurry after her.

A/N: Woah. Okay, so I'm actually kind of surprised it took me so long to write this chapter, because I've had most of it written for weeks. School's been hell lately. I won't bore you with the details. I hope that those of you who have been reading, are still doing so.


	8. Making Up is Hard to Do

Things went on. No one talked to Annette about Travis. They tried, but she wouldn't have it. He wasn't in school and whether he was still in the hospital, Annette did not know or care. Annette's plan had worked. Lucas and Morgan were now going out, but Annette wasn't interested in this as she has been before. In fact, her family was quick to notice, Annette was barely herself.

"She's still in shock." Roger would say, in attempt to explain his daughter's behavior, more to himself than anyone else. Though it had only been three days since the night Travis had been landed in the hospital, and Annette's behavior was quite normal considering, her family remained worried.

Wednesday's lunch period found Annette sitting alone in the school library, her face hidden by a book. Lucas and Morgan, who had been looking for her, sat down silently across from her. Not only did Annette not look up, but her eyes weren't moving along the lines in the book, not were her hands flipping the page.

"Annette?" Lucas finally broke the silence and Annette's head jerked up with a start. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Annette answered in an unconvincing voice. Lucas and Morgan shared a worried look.

"Uncle Collins is looking for you." Lucas said. "He asked me to tell you to go his room as soon as you can."

"Oh." Annette shrugged. "Okay, well I guess I'll go, then." And without a glance back at them, she was off. When she walked in the classroom, however, she saw her uncle immersed in deep conversation with non other than her father. Both men looked up when Annette walked in.

"Hi, honey." Roger said.

"Why are you here?"

"I've signed you out of school."

"Why?" Annette asked bewildered.

"Why not?" Roger grinned. "I think I deserve to spend time with my daughter whenever I feel like it."

"O…kay." Annette said, her voice still laced with confusion.

"See you later, man." Roger looked to Collins before ushering Annette out.

"Where're we going?" Annette asked him once they were outside.

"I thought we'd catch a movie or something." Annette sensed that Roger was under the impression that he had to make her feel better about something. "You want to drive?"

"No thanks." She felt more like being lost in thought rather than concentrating on the road. They rode in silence for a good fifteen minutes, when Annette suddenly said,

"I want to go to the hospital."

"What?!" Roger's head snapped to look at his daughter. "Are you okay?! What hurts?!"

"No, nothing. I just wanna go." Slowly, understanding dawned on Roger.

"Okay." He agreed, changing lanes and turning in the direction of the hospital

The hospital was dead quiet. An occasional beeping noise was the only sound coming from one of the many rooms ad they passed, but even the usual bustling of nurses was missing. Annette didn't even pause outside the door as she burst inside it. Roger remained outside. The room was empty other than the pile of sheets that was Travis's head that jerked up to meet Annette's face.

"I never did anything to you!" She wasted no time in releasing all the emotion she'd been feeling. "I never gave you a reason to hate me, just like you never gave your dad reason to treat you the way he did." Travis averted his gaze.

"I know." He mumbled.

"That's all I wanted to say." And to Travis's surprise, Annette pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed. "If you ever have kids, they won't have done anything to you either. You need help so that you don't hurt other people."

"You're right," He mumbled. "That's what the psychologist said." Meeting her eyes, Travis took a deep breath before saying,

"I'm sorry." So obvious was it that it took everything Travis had in him to say this, that Annette actually believed him. And with that it was done. Annette wasn't the type of person to hold a grudge; and everyone, she believed, deserved a fresh start. So as she asked Travis when he was getting out of the hospital, they silently buried the hatchet. Fifteen minutes passed, and to anyone else, it would have been an unbelievable sight. The two talked about nothing and anything, no ill feelings toward one another as if nothing had ever happened between them. As Annette finally stood to go, Travis looked at her.

"Come back tomorrow?" He asked. "Only it gets really lonely here…" And alas, Annette agreed.

Roger noticed a change in his daughter immediately as she emerged from the hospital room. She seemed to be back to her normal self. Roger didn't question in.

A/N: Very, very, short chapter. I'm sorry it took me forever to put up and I'm sorry it's so short.


	9. To Begin

A/N: I know…I took forever…I don't know what happened. I was busy for a while with school ending and theatre camp starting and then my play and blah blah blah excuses. So I'm sorry. Here's chapter nine.

_To Begin_

Travis and Annette had become fast friends. Annette was acting like her normal self, as if nothing bad had ever happened and her family and friends quite enjoyed this. O

"So then," Lucas said Friday at lunch time. "this dude, out of complete no where, he says," he stopped to laugh. "He says, 'hey, idiot! You suck!'" And he laughed uncontrollably.

"Uh, Lucas?" Annette said after sharing a "what the hell?" look with Morgan. "Was that supposed to be funny?"

"Well…yeah." Lucas said, amazed they weren't laughing.

"Right." And Morgan and Annette began to laugh at Lucas, not at his joke.

"What's so funny?" A voice said as he sat down next to Annette.

"Just telling Lucas what an idiot he is." Annette said.

"Aww, you started without me?!" Travis grinned.

"Ha, ha." Lucas said dryly. "Hilarious."

"Yeah," Travis sighed smiling. "I like to think so." Annette looked over and smiled too. She's begun to really trust Travis. She felt like she could tell him anything, and it was as if she'd forgotten all the bad they'd gone through. Morgan looked at her watch and sighed.

"Come on, Lucas."

"Where you going?" Travis asked.

"He needs help studying for his test before next period."

"Good luck!" Annette said as Lucas stood up.

"Yeah, thanks." Lucas said and followed Morgan out.

"So." Travis said turning to Annette. "What do you say…well, wanna go out tonight? Like a date?" Annette was caught completely off guard. Sure, they'd gotten real close, real fast…but it was so sudden…so random. Yet she found that she really wanted to. So she agreed.

"You know…" She smiled. "I'd like that."

"Great." Travis smiled. "I was thinking we could go to dinner…and a movie? A little cliché, I know but —"

"That sounds great." Annette cut him off. "I'd like that." He grinned and she grinned back. The bell rang and sent them off to their different classes.

"I think Travis likes you." Morgan whispered to her in Spanish class.

"Do you, now?"

"Yes."

"Me too." Annette agreed.

"What?"

"He asked me out." Annette smiled.

"No way!" Morgan said shocked.

"Uh huh."

"You said yes, right?"

"Yes."

But Morgan wasn't the only one who heard. When Roger came home that night,

"Annette, I hear Travis asked you out."

"How'd you hear that?" She asked utterly confused.

"Lucas called me." She rolled her eyes, assuming Morgan had told him.

"Listen…" Roger said worriedly. "I know you guys are cool now…and I'm not gonna try and stop you…but just watch it, okay? Be careful."

"Don't worry, Dad." She said and went up to her room to get changed.

A few hours later found Travis walking Annette back home.

"Well?!" Lucas asked as she walked in.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Felt like coming over."

"Uh huh."

"How was it?" He repeated.

"He asked me to be his girlfriend."

"Oh my G-d…did you say yes?" He asked incredulously.

"Yes." Annette smiled and went up the stairs and to bed.

A/N: So this chapter wasn't terribly amazing. I didn't feel like the date would be that important.


	10. A Chance

_A Chance _

"It was only that one time. It wasn't even that great." Travis shrugged.

"That's so weird. Most people get addicted to heroin." Annette said. The two were in Annette's room, talking about drugs; it started as health homework, and ended a conversation about personal experience.

"Why, do you know many people who have been?" Travis teased. Annette ignored the question.

"I've just never felt the need to even smoke pot." She shrugged.

"Keep it that way." Travis warned. The two had been together for about a month now. The relationship remained an enigma to everyone around them. How she could not only forgive him, but end up liking him, her family didn't understand; but the two were happy. Travis had been meeting with the psychologist for an hour and a half every day, and he had become almost a completely different person. Now that his father was in jail, and not around to cause fresh pain, all he had left was residual anger. The psychologist was helping him deal with it, and though he was far from cured, his intense desire to stop taking his anger out on others helped him achieve that result. He was still angry, of course, but he was able to deal with it in healthier ways.

"Well what if I didn't want to keep it that way?" Annette teased.

"You'd better." He grinned as he leaned over to kiss her.

"Or what?" She continued. She enjoyed teasing him.

"You don't want to know." He answered, as he kissed her again. They both knew he had no real answer, but it was true that Travis had proven to be protective of her. She didn't mind. She was completely used to a protective nature due to her family.

"Uh huh." She answered, as she deepened the kiss, lying down on the bed, with Travis on top. As if waiting for the least opportune moment, the door opened and in walked Roger, clearing his throat for attention. Travis scrambled to get off Annette, as she shot up.

"Hi, Daddy." She grinned.

"Dinner's ready." He grumbled, glaring at Travis. "Can you be a little less appropriate?" He spat at him, sarcastically, walking out of the room.

"Your dad hates me." Travis sighed.

"No," Annette started, trying to make him feel better, even though he was pretty accurate. "He just--"

"Don't bother," Travis shook his head. "I would hate me too, if I were him. And I'd despise me if I were you."

"Travis--" Annette began, but he cut her off again.

"Don't try to make me feel better, Annette. There's no way you can. I'll never forgive myself for what I did to you and frankly, you shouldn't have either."

"Listen to me." Annette said, grabbing his face in between her hands. "Look, what happened, happened. You had your reasons--"

"No!" Travis interrupted. "No 'reason' is good enough! What I did--"

"Stop!" Annette interjected. "Just stop, okay?! I'm not saying what you did was okay, but it happened! For over a month you've been a completely different person, so can you please just stop beating yourself up over it?! I'm over it, and you should be, too."

"I don't deserve you." He mumbled.

"Please." Annette sighed. "Just relax, okay? For me?"

"Anything, baby." He smiled. She went in to kiss him but was interrupted by her father's shout.

"Annette! Dinner!"

"I'm coming!" She answered, grabbing Travis's hand, as they made their way downstairs.

"Travis, what would you like to drink?" Mimi asked as the two emerged. While Mimi had been completely against the day of the two dating at first, she had made more of an effort at being understanding. Travis had personally apologized to her, and while her motherly instincts would not let her forget what he had done, she had grown to even like him. She almost trusted him, though she remained wary. Roger on the other hand, being the protective father he was, was not so quick to forgive. Nor did he make any attempt to hide it. Annette begged him to be more understanding, but Roger, along with his best friends, took every opportunity they had to throw him a dirty glare. His trust in Annette was the only reason Roger had allowed her to date him in the first place; a decision he regretted once he saw how close the couple had gotten.

"Coke, please." Travis answered. "But I'll help you set the table." He followed Mimi into the kitchen.

"I'm hungry!" Came a voice from the doorway. "Feed me!"

"Get your own food, you bum!" Roger answered his best friend's voice. "What are you even doing here?"

"I got home and there was a note saying Dana had taken the kids to playdates and she was staying with Lacy because she's friends with the girl's mother. Lucas is at Morgan's." Mark said as he emerged into the dining room.

"Well, you're not wanted here." Roger joked.

"I know someone else who's not wanted." Mark muttered as he caught sight of Travis's back through the kitchen doorway.

"Uncle Mark!" Annette protested, grateful Travis hadn't heard the remark.

"Well, he's not." Roger defended his friend.

"Yes, he is, okay?!" Annette said in a low voice, though anger was evident. "I like him and you guys aren't make anything any easier! He already feels bad and I just wish you'd leave him alone!" She turned on her heel and stormed up the stairs. Mark and Roger exchanged a sorrowful look before Roger sighed and went up the stairs.

"Uh, hi, Mr. Cohen." Travis said, coming into the dining room with the plates. "Where'd Annette go?"

"To wash her hands." He lied.

"Oh." Travis said, going back into the kitchen to get the silverware.

"You said something, didn't you?!" Mimi glared at him. Mark shrugged. "Travis, will you bring out another plate?" Mimi called to him, then adding in an undertone. "Not that you deserve to stay for dinner."

"I'm sorry!" Mark said. "But he's not so innocent either!"

"I know!" Mimi murmured. "And so does he! So just leave him alone! All you guys are doing is hurting Annette!"

Mark sighed at the same time Roger did from upstairs. He opened the door to Annette's room and walked in.

"I'm sorry, baby." He said sitting next to her. He felt terrible. It was very rare for the two to fight, but lately, because of Roger's attitude towards Travis, he had given her more reasons to be mad at him. She didn't look up. "I know I've been a little less than tolerant. I'm just worried. I'm your father, and there's no way I can forgive--"

"I'm not asking you, too!" Annette cut in. "I know it's hard for you, and Uncle Mark and Uncle Collins! I know you guys can't understand and I know you can't forgive him; and I know it's because you love me and you care about me and all that. But damn it, Dad, can't you just try to be a little nicer?! He already feels bad enough! He's convinced that he doesn't deserve me--"

"Well, he doesn't!"

"He's not a bad guy, Dad! He's changed! Look, please, I really like him, and you're just gonna drive him away. I know you trust me; and I trust him. So, please, just make a little effort!"

"Okay." Roger seceded. I'll try to be nicer. But just so you know, I don't think _anyone_'s good enough for you.

"I know." Annette sighed, rolling her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Roger said, hugging his daughter.

"Roger! Annette! Can we please eat?!" Mimi's voice came from downstairs.

"Let's go." Roger chuckled. "Before Mark eats all the food." The two went downstairs and sat down at the table.

"Mark, I don't recall asking you to stay." Roger teased.

"Roger, I don't recall asking you to speak." Mark shot back.

"Okay, children, let's behave." Mimi rolled her eyes.

After dinner, Travis and Annette went back up to her room and as they were finishing up their homework, Mark knocked on the door and walked in.

"Hey, Annette, can I speak to your for a second?" He asked, standing in the doorway. Annette nodded, and followed him out.

"I just wanted to apologize for what I said before. Not that I take it back. As your uncle, I don't pretend to like him. But I don't like having you mad at me. Besides, your father will kick my ass if I piss you off." He joked.

"Oh, so you apologize out of fear of my dad." Annette teased.

"No." Mark chuckled. "I'm sorry I upset you. But I do reserve my godfatherly right to not like him."

"Godfatherly right." Annette mumbled. "That's for sure not a word."

"Well, it is, now!" Mark protested.

"Whatever, Uncle Mark." Annette laughed.

"Good night, baby." Mark said kissing her forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"'Night, Uncle Mark."

Annette went back to her room, pleased. She knew that she couldn't make her family all of a sudden love her boyfriend, especially not her protective father and uncles; but at least they were trying, and that was a start.

A/N: So, it's funny that I never finished this story, since I actually had the ending before I had the beginning. But I was watching Rent today for the first time in a while and I decided I should finish it. So here's the next chapter, with more to come soon.


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